


The Aegis of Athena

by OfficialWeedTesterguy



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Kane Chronicles - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2021-01-03 10:17:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21177782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfficialWeedTesterguy/pseuds/OfficialWeedTesterguy
Summary: A routine mission for Brooklyn House brings an unexpected player into the fold...and a very unexpected guest.





	The Aegis of Athena

Pro tip: don’t go down into the NYC sewer system wearing a white shirt.

Just...don’t.

Now you’re probably wondering. Hey Jack, what exactly are you doing in the sewer system of New York City? Something to do with magic? Evil spirits abound?

The answer-well, I’m not exactly sure.

A week after Percy’s birthday party, we had picked us massive magic spikes underground in Manhattan. 

Yeah, Manhattan of all places.

At least my girlfriend Jaz decided to tag along. She’d recently become the Eye of Sekhmet, and was getting used to having a divine being in her head. I’d been helping her adjust to her new status. Isis had been quite useful, giving her tips on managing power and such. Jaz even had her own combat avatar; a giant lioness-human with killer claws.

Man, I was jealous.

Her healing magic had kept us safe; we’d done some exploring through old tunnels, and were prepared to head into other parts of the underground if need be. 

“We’ve been down here for an hour, and I’m not getting anything.” Jaz said. “And the smell is really kicking in right now.”

“I can open a portal if you want to pull us out. But I don’t get it. The surge was so strong. I just wonder what in the Duat could cause something like that.” I pause. “Isis, a little help?”

Are you sure? 

“What do you mean?”

I have a suspicion, but I’m not sure you want to hear it. 

“Isis, I like you, but please for the love of Ra tell me what’s going on.”

Something in the Freedom Tunnel. I...I can’t get a read on it. But there’s something powerful there. If I could go down there, I would help you. But I cannot.

I turn to Jaz. “Freedom Tunnel. Let’s go. She takes my hand, and I summon a portal.

Here we go.   
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The portal closes behind us as we entered into the middle of an old shantytown. Jaz and I covered our noses, reeling.

“Ugh, that smell!” 

I couldn’t argue with her; it smelled like shit. The place looked abandoned’ hadn’t been used in a long time. The place was dark and musty; the only light we got was from our wands and the occasional sunlight peeking in from holes and exit points. We began to follow the tracks, wands and staffs ready for anything.

“Look, up ahead.” Jaz points out a green light coming from an abandoned train car. We move closer and closer, ready for anything. Suddenly, Jaz drops to the ground.

“What-”

“Voices!” She whispers. “Can’t you hear them?”

I shake my head. “No…”

We get on the gravel, crawling on our hands and knees. Yes, now I can hear them. There’s a railyard just up ahead; a light at the end of the tunnel. Something’s there...something close…

The two of us are thrown back as the railcar explodes, turning into dust. A boy floats out, green fire covering his body. He holds a shield-a very powerful one. When I look at it, fear courses through my body. Jaz and I open up with magical attacks, but the shield takes the hits just fine.

“Nice try, magicians!” The boy yells. “But this shield, is mine!” He throws some green fire at us, as well as several ha-dis.

“How?” Jaz yells, as we chase after the guy. “He’s no magician, so how is he doing that! It’s impossible!”

“Talk later, fight now!” We rush outside, exchanging fire. We rush past abandoned trains, throwing and dodging spells.

“You Egyptians are decent, but Greek is always better! Hecate rules, you ingrates!” The boy floats into the air, laughing as wind swirls around him. Jaz’s eyes widen. 

“Get down!” She shoves me to the ground, summoning her Sekhmet avatar. The lioness’ claws swipe through the air, knocking the ‘magician’ off of balance. Did he say Hecate? As in the Greek goddess of magic Hecate? Da fuq? 

I summon Isis’ Wings, taking flight and hurling barrages of energy at him. His funnel of wind blocks some of the hits, but it’s weakening!

“Keep the pressure on!” Jaz roars.

“No! Not my Aegis!”

A woman in armor jumps over one of the railcars. She’s got brown hair, grey eyes, and clad in fancy-looking Greek-ish battle armor. Who is this? 

With a battle cry, the armored woman slams a fist against the boy’s shield, knocking him back. The boy stumbles, chuckling. He hits the lady with some kind of black vapor, knocking her off balance. She starts hitting herself, as if she’s trying to swat off something.

“No! No! Spiders not again! Gods damn you Hermes!”

Hermes? 

“Finally! A real opponent, compared to these puppets of gods!”

“Puppets!?” Oh, that’s it. Isis time. I clenched my fist, drawing Isis’ magical power to me.

I was her Avatar.

Her eye. 

And now, her rage.

My Isis avatar summoned almost immediately, wings unfolding and golden ‘skin’ glowing. I concentrated, my connection to Isis drawing deeper and deeper from her. 

Concentrate. Concentrate, damnit. Yes...Yes! 

A white-hot beam of energy shot from my left hand, hitting the demigod right in the face. A massive explosion shook the railyard, sending debris flying as a massive shockwave threw us back. The mortal news reports would later describe it as a train payload of explosive material that went off.

In truth, it was purely godly power.

When the smoke cleared, the demigod lay there, smoking. His body was shaking, as if it had been electrocuted. The shield was at his side, stained black and smoking as well. Jaz was okay; her avatar having taken most of the blast. The armored chick was laying on the ground, struggling to get up. I walk over to the kid, and grab the shield. 

That artifact is powerful. Very powerful. Isis said in my head. I would not mess with that.

“Why?”

It does not come from us. 

“Who, then?” 

“Sike!”

The boy and shield vanish. 

“A hologram!” The woman says, getting back on her two feet. “It was a trick! A damn trick!”

“You’re right. For a person of your caliber, you’re pretty damn good.”

The boy is floating above us, holding the shield like Captain America, with a shit-eating grin on his face. 

“Don’t you think it’s time the Egyptian and Greek worlds met, Jack? Restorer of the Throne of Fire, Reviver of Ra, and one of the many who struck down Apophis? I expected better from you.”

“What the fuck are you talking about, you psycho?”

He laughs. ‘What I’m saying is, your gods have power. And lots of it. I think it’s time we, ah...spread it around.”

The woman charges at him, spear raised. As she leaps up to impale him with its tip, he holds out a hand. 

What is he doing?

Red beams of energy snake out from his hand, latching onto her. 

“It’s the Seven Ribbons!” Jaz yells. “He using the Seven Ribbons on her!”

“Let’s stop him!” 

Jaz begins to chant, as energy swirls around her. I begin to condense a ball of magic energy between my hands.

“Three.”

“Two!”

“One!”

I yell as a ha-di hits hi him in the face, knocking him backwards. Jaz takes it up a notch; calling upon her patron goddess, the Seven Arrows of Sekhmet hit him, causing him to hit the ground, convulsing. As I summon my staff, a cloud of mist surrounds him. When it clears-he’s gone. Vanished. But there is a lot of blood on the ground.

“Fuck!” I stomp my foot. “We almost got that fucker!”

Jaz rushes over to the lady, who’s lying on the ground, limp. Her grey eyes are glazed over, and she doesn’t look too good.

“What do we do with her?” I ask.

“We could take her back to Brooklyn House!”

Fuck it. 

I take out my phone. (Not damaged, thank Ra), and call Carter.

“Carter! Bring Freak over to me and Jaz’s location. We got a hell of a mess to clear up.”  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We used Freak to carry our mystery woman back to Brooklyn House. Jaz summoned one of her magic stretchers to carry her. She seemed kinda heavy. Whoever she was, she had a lot of power residing in her. Carter and Sadie helped us carry her to the infirmary, where my girlfriend did what she did best-heal. Or, tried to.

Jaz’s magic seemed to have an effect on the mystery woman, but not to the extent we thought. Something was resisting her magic.

“Whoever...whatever this woman is, she’s very powerful.” Jaz said. I’m going to be watching her for now-”

“Uggggh.”

The woman groaned, her fingers wiggling. “Fuck.” Jaz said, backing away. Jaz barely ever cursed.

The woman opened her eyes, and started to blink rapidly. 

“What-my shield-where is it!?”

Sadie walks over to her. “Ma’am it’s alright. We’ve got you!” 

She tries to stand up, but stumbles and falls. Carter grabs her hand, and helps her up. She looks dazed, and very, very confused. 

“Wha-I...I...shield...godsss…”

“It’s okay.” Jaz helps her sit back down on the cot. She’s so sweet. The woman nods, then notices the amulet on her necklace. Her eyes and mouth widen, and she fell off of the cot.

“In the name of Zeus, what is going on? And why am I surrounded by magicians?”

“Calm down!” I say. “What is your name?”

“I...I am Athena.”  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?”

Everyone in the room looked down at their feet.

“Why is there a Greek Goddess in the nome?” Sadie asked.

“I…”

“We….”

Sadie sighs, putting her hands on her head. Athena is just kinda sitting there, looking at us. 

“Look, Sadie! We were fighting some kid with a weird shield, then she came outta nowhere, nearly died, and we saved her ass!” I say. I turn to Athena. “Hold on. We’re going to find out what’s going on here.” I pull out my phone. I find a certain contact on my phone.

JackTheMagician: Hey

Annabeth: Hey. What’s wrong

JackTheMagician: We got a problem

Annabeth: What kind of problem?

JackTheMagician: How many Greek gods have you talked to?

Annabeth: Lots. Why?

JackTheMagican: I fucked up

Annabeth: What. Is. Wrong?

JackTheMagician: I found your mom. Some demigod almost killed her 

Annabeth: ………..what

The phone starts ringing. It’s her. I answer it. 

“Hey.”

“I need answers. Now.” 

I briefly explain to her what happened. The kid with magic who was definitely not Egyptian, the weird shield, and the goddess in the room.

“Alabaster.”

“What?”

Annabeth groans. “He’s a son of Hecate, our goddess of magic. Not as powerful as yours, of course. But he’s dangerous. We’ve been trying to track him with the help of the Hunters, but we’ve gotten barely anything. Can I come over?”

I look at Sadie and Carter. Sadie looks at Carter. Carter nods.

“She’s been here before, remember? Just tell her to come alone.” I nod, and I ignore the shocked look on Athena’s face. An issue we can deal with later.

“Yeah, you can come over. What are you going to do about…” I look at the armored goddess, who looks kinda pale, just sitting on the cot. “Her?”

Annabeth sighs. “I’ll get her, bring her back to camp. I’ll make sure she’ll be quiet about you guys.”

“Annabeth-”

“Save it, Jack. I respect you and the rest of your magicians, but this is a personal issue now. Besides...a talk between us is long overdue. I’ll be there in thirty.” She hangs up.

“Annabeth will be here in thirty minutes.” I tell the siblings. 

“Very well. Jaz, do what you can for her-”

“I’ll be fine.” Athena waves off Jaz. “I am no mortal. I will heal eventually.”

“Are you sure?” Jaz asked with a raised eyebrow. “Your life force ain’t looking so good.”

“What do you mean?” She asks, obviously annoyed. “I-” She gasps, grabbing her chest, and nearly falling over. Jaz and Walt help her up. 

“I’m a healer, hon.” Jaz says. “Eve for a god, your life force looks weaker than usual. Whatever that Plaster kid-”

“Alabaster. Gods damn him.” 

“Yes..Miss Athena. Now, I’d like to just take a quick look at you to make sure nothing else is wrong with you.” The armored woman shivers.

“Very well. Go about your studies. I...I don't feel so good.” Jaz nods, and removes Athena’s helmet, where hieroglyphics start to dancer around her as she mutters healing incantations. I reluctantly walk out with Sadie, Carter, and Walt. We close the infirmary doors.

“Well.” Carter says. “If Amos finds out about this, he will be majorly pissed.”

“Agreed.” Walt interjects. “I wouldn’t want to see Set’s Eye mad.” We all nodded. Albert was a strong storm magician, but he couldn’t match up to Amos. We had to keep this shit top-secret outside of our Nome. 

“You’re right.” Sadie said, holding his hand. “We must keep this a bloody secret. No one, besides us and Jaz, talk about this. Okay?”

We all nod our heads collectively. Jaz opens the door. 

“She wants to talk to you.” We head inside. Athena’s helmet is off. 

“So...magicians. I have not encountered one of you for a long time. Millenia, in fact. I see you have changed much since I last encountered one of you.”

I speak up. She probably can notice Isis. “So you’re not mad at us?” She sighs. 

“Annoyed is a better word. I would hate to admit to my brethren that I was saved by a bunch of kids. And a goddess. I can see that, you know.” Ah. That’s one less thing off of my list. 

“Once I leave this place, I shall be quiet. I will not, out of my gratitude, maliciously annihilate you or your friends.”

“Good, because if you even touch my mates…” Sadie angrily stares at her. “You’ll be the first Olympian to know what the Seven Ribbons of Hathor feel like.” Her eyes flash gold. Athena take a step back. Sadie coughs. “Just so you know, of course. Hate to leave Annabeth without a mum. What little she had of one, anyway.”

“Shut up, you Egyptian puppet! You have no idea of the power I-”

“Mom!”

Annabeth is in the doorway, hands on her hips. And she looks pissed. 

“Annabeth, How’d you get here so quickly?” I ask.

“Pegasus.” She nods at me. She strides up to Athena, scowling at her. “You’ve got a lot of guts, threatening my friends. And what were you doing out there, acting so recklessly? That’s not like you at all! What if Hermes heard about this?” Athena blushed. And not just any kind of blush. I’m talking full-on cherry red. 

“I...I….”

“What if you had been killed? Did you see just how powerful that kid was? Egyptian magic is designed to fight gods. If they hadn’t come…” She shakes her head, looking at us. “Thank you guys, really. For pulling my mom’s head out of her ass.” She puts her head in her hands, shaking her head. “C’mon, Mom. I’ll fly you back to camp. About time you saw the rest of your fuckin’ kids anyway.” She pulls her out of the room. “I’ll be in touch!” 

We stand around, mouths gaping.

“Holy Horus. What just happened?” Jaz asked.

“I think...I think Annabeth and her mom have some issues.” Walt twiddled his fingers. 

“Yeah.” I nod. “So what happens now?”

“Well, we all need to keep an eye out for this Alabaster guy. He seems dangerous. Very dangerous.” We all nod. Carter continues. “And not a single word to the rest of our initiates. Okay?”

We nod, and leave the infirmary. Jaz holds my hand, slightly shaking. I kiss her, trying to comfort her. She kisses me back, and heads to her room. Probably to nap or something. I don’t blame her. I simply go to my room, sit on my bed, and start re-reading Mythology for Dummies.

I’ve got a lot to cover.  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

That night, as I’m getting ready for bed, someone knocks on the door. It’s Jaz in her pajamas, hair all messy.

“Hey Jack. I’m sorry about earlier. I-I’m sorry. Can I come in?”

“You’re my girlfriend. Of course.” She sits down on my bed, taking off her slippers and stretching.

“So, anything new?”

“No. I’ve been thinking all day, and I’ve got nothing. Not even a call from Annabeth. This whole pantheon thing is freaking me out. I...I don’t know. I talked to Isis, damnit, and even she has nothing. I’ll probably see if I can contact Thoth tomorrow. Maybe he’ll know something.”

I sit on the bed next to her, shaking my head. 

“Jack, you’re stressed. I can see that. You need to just relax.” She kisses me. “Maybe you’re thinking too hard? Maybe...maybe it’s more obvious? Could be something...I don’t know. I’m not too sure.” She wraps her arms around me, kissing me again. “Do you want me to stay?”

I look at her, and she looks back at me. We both get the idea in our heads at the same time. And as we get under the covers and get busy, we both fail to notice the Empire State Building glowing.

Just a little bit green.


End file.
